Pounding On My Heart
by temporarystatus
Summary: In which Austin has a method or two up his sleeve to help Ally get over gaveling. / / references to Managers & Meatballs


**Title: **Pounding on My Heart

**Rating: **K+

**Pairing: **Austin/Ally

**Summary:** In which Austin has a method or two up his sleeve to help Ally get over gaveling.

**A/N: **Inspired by Managers & Meatballs, need I say more?I have a million and one of these started but alas, none have really been finished. But I powered through this for my Secret Santa (you know who you are!). Anyway, this is really my first fanfiction so I apologize. We all have to start somewhere, right? Okay, that's enough, I hope you enjoy!

**x**

"And that concludes this week's Team Austin meeting! Meeting adjourned!" Ally exclaimed, slamming her gavel down on the countertop of Sonic Boom. Austin watched as a smile graced her features as she sent the warm gesture to her friends. He eyes followed her movements as she placed the brown gavel underneath the counter, a sad, longing look appearing in her eyes before it disappeared.

Her tiny frame made its way around the counter and over to the front doors where her dainty fingers flipped the hanging sign from "Closed" to "Open". Austin's eyes never left her body.

The blond rocker had noticed over the past few months just how much the sad, wounded puppy look always graced her features when she gaveled. It was a silly thing to be sad over but he knew that his partner must have had a reason. Which is why he found that cornering her that night before they late to walk home together as usual to be completely okay, despite that fact that she disagreed.

"Austin," the brunette said, crossing her arms. "Move aside." Her foot, sitting snugly in white wedges, tapped against the floor of their practice room. Subconsciously, the aforementioned boy looked down at her feet. Sometimes he missed her cowboy boots, the cute brown ones that adorned her feet in the beginning of their partnership. But the wedges that graced them now was just another sign of how much she's grown, as they all have, since their first meeting. "Auuuustinnnn?" Ally said, waving a hand in front of his face, clearly annoyed.

Right, zoning out. Bad move.

"Yes?" he responded weakly, an innocent smile of the same magnitude gracing his features.

Ally raised an eyebrow at him, gesturing madly at the door. "I would like to go home now!"

"Right," he chuckled nervously. Austin's fingers twitched to rub the back of his neck, a nervous tick he'd picked up from Dez a few years back. "I can't let you."

Her eyebrow rose slightly higher.

"I don't mean it like that – what I mean is – I need to – UGH!" He _was_ never good at confrontations, even small ones.

"Austin, can you please move aside. I'm really tired…" she trailed off with a sleepy sigh. His brown eyes followed the movements of her mouth as it widened before her lips created a small 'O' shape-

Man, he needed to stop getting distracted.

"How come you don't love gaveling?" he asked, much like a little child would. His eyes had grown a tiny bit bigger and his innocence radiated.

"What are you talking about? I love gaveling."

Austin simply shook his head. "Maybe you do still… but not as much as before." Ally sighed once more, moving to sit on the piano bench, knowing that the man puppy that was her best friend wouldn't let her leave until she answered. Austin follows and leaves no space between them as he settles beside her.

"I love gaveling still, don't get me wrong," the songwriter begins, shooting her partner a look and he smiles sheepishly at her. "It's just that every time I gavel, it reminds me of Demonica. It's silly, I know, but I get that image of her assistant taking it from my hand and gaveling and," she should take a breath here, Austin thinks to himself. But he's reminded that it's Ally and she can go on for hours with only one breath. By now, she's near tears and his chest clenches painfully at how quickly this memory he has caused her to recall hurt her so much.

"It reminds me of how she broke up Team Austin, even though it was only for a little while. It reminds me of how she tore us apart and ruined us and how fragile we were and how if things were different we never would have gotten back together. How she shattered my world for a few hours and I didn't know what to do." Austin senses that he knows only a little of how Ally feels as she breaks down beside him, sobs overtaking her being. He does the only thing he really knows he can and wraps an arm around her, pulling her closer. His fingers rub circles on her upper arm as he mentally slams his head against the wall.

Way to make the most important person in his life cry.

After a while, her sobs subside and Austin can only manage a few words. "Let's get you home." He does just that, only releasing her when it becomes necessary. As much as he wants to and as much as Mr. Dawson trusts and cares for Austin as his own son, sleeping in the same bedroom as Ally, a pure treasure to both of them, would definitely be crossing a line.

And he wanted to stay safely away from that line for when they get married.

If, he means. Because he's head over heels for his partner and God only knows where she stands. The only thing she was head over heels for at the moment seemed to be Tweeter…

**x**

It's while he's lying in bed that night that he thinks of a solution. Sure, gaveling may be tainted from Demonica (he mentally pukes at the thought of the woman), but he can figure something equally as awesome to put that smile back on her face.

The smile he loves more than pancakes and LeBron James and cheerleaders put together.

**x**

Ally walks into Sonic Boom the next day, ready to take over her dad's shift to realize that the store's setup had been changed once more. It became a game in the very beginning between Mr. Dawson and the boys, seeing who could move every instrument (excluding the ones hanging on the wall) into a completely different spot as they were earlier that week. Ally considered it stupid but figured not all of her father's plans were wrong as it did what he intended – allowed Dez and Austin to play with the instruments and not break them.

(Though the latter didn't always hold up too well with the first boy.)

She settled her bag, precious songbook huddled inside, under the counter and looked over at the drums. The drum set had made its way back into them showroom of the store, sitting where the grand piano usually did.

"Hm…" she wondered aloud, placing her elbow on the counter and resting her chin in her palm.

"Hey Ally!" Austin greeted excitedly, practically bouncing into the store. The girl jumped up, startled, and turned in surprise at the appearance of her partner. She had an early morning shift and she knew how much the blond musician hated early mornings.

"It's 8 in the morning… What are you doing up and," she sniffed him for dramatic effect (and for the fact that he smelled like a better summer breeze than Dallas ever did), "showered?"

Austin rolled his eyes, making his way to the drum set. Ally followed hesitantly, mouth slightly open. He took out drumsticks that he had stashed in his back pocket right before leaving and sat down on the stool.

"Austin, there's no playing the instruments," Ally said lamely, giving Austin her disapproving looks. He only laughed in response. The amount of times that "rule" had been broken by the duo was ridiculous. So he danced the drumsticks around the round instruments, creating a ruckus… a beautiful, musical ruckus.

In frustration, the tiny girl grabbed his wrists to stop his playing and they both felt a sense of déjà vu, and she glared at him. "Austin, really. Customers can come in at any second and-"

"Ally, Sonic Boom is almost never busy in the morning," he reasoned. He had heard it many times from Ally and Lester alike, yet they still opened at eight each morning for the rare stray. "Besides," he began again, standing up, gripping the drumsticks in his hand. "We're definitely breaking that 'rule' today!"

"Why is that?" she asked cautiously, raising an eyebrow and resting her hands on her hips. She noticed Austin's lips twitching upward in what seemed to be excitement and gosh, if he was a real puppy he would have wet the floor.

"I'm teaching you the drums!" His arms were spread out wide and a big grin erupted on his face, all of his pearly white, perfect teeth staring straight at her.

"Why?"

His smile faltered slightly but he didn't let her comment deter him. He gently grabbed her arms near her wrists and guided her to the stool. He brought her to sit down on it before letting both his hands grip the wooden sticks tightly in front of him. He was a ball of blond hair and excitement and innocence and Ally couldn't help but smile at the thought. She closed her eyes and ignored the fact that he hadn't answered her question before letting out a sigh, followed by a smile, and looked up at him.

"Okay, teach me."

**x**

"Austin, I can't do this!" Ally exclaimed, letting out a frustrated groan. Austin had been instructing her for the past half hour on hour to play the drums. To say they were making little progress was an understatement.

"No, you can Ally! Just listen to me, okay?" he responded quickly from in front of the drum set. They were both quickly growing impatient.

"I don't know why you even want me to learn the drums! I don't need to, I know piano and that's all I really care to know at the moment!" Her yells seemed to echo around the room as she stood up, her arms thrashing out wildly. "This is pointless!" she screeched, hand flying out and hitting a symbol. She instantly retracted it and held it close to her chest, the back of her hand turning red and throbbing.

Austin rushed over to her, maneuvering expertly around the drum set. He grabbed her hand and examined it before rubbing it softly. "Oh Ally…" he murmured. Her brown eyes looked at his features, watching as he kept a close eye on her hurt hand. He could go from being an innocent kid to being a frustrating human being to her sweet best friend so quickly.

"Why do you want me to learn the drums so badly?" The question was quiet and if they hadn't been as close as they were now (lol_personalspace_?) then she was sure that her quiet words wouldn't have been heard. His gaze refused to meet hers as his cheeks turned slightly pink.

"I wanted you to find something new that made you happy…" His words were almost as quiet as hers but she was left confused.

"What do you mean? I'm happy!"

"No, I mean… I wanted you to have something like gaveling." Ally raised an eyebrow at Austin. The conversation between the two had occurred well over a week ago and to be honest, she shoved it to the back of her mind. "Gaveling… Demonica took that away from you. Drums is like gaveling kind of. Except, Demonica can't take it away from you. It's yours. And well, mine too I guess so it's an Austin&Ally thing-" His words stopped and he looked at Ally as a few giggles escaped her mouth at his rambling.

She sighed happily and tilted her head, looking at the blond boy before her. "That's one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me. Thank you, Austin." Her arms made their way around his neck instinctively and suddenly she was filled with the smell that was distinctively Austin (pancakes and old spice and wax, the perfectly odd combination). His arms wrapped themselves around her upper back and she could just _tell _that he had the closed eyed smile of his on. She closed her eyes too, embracing the boy and the moment.

**x**

"Are you ready?" Austin asked with a smile. Ally nodded excitedly. She returned to her seat in front of the drums, gripping the drumsticks. Her best friend's hands enclosed around hers and they shared a laugh as he towered over her. She felt safe and oh gosh, the view and feeling of those arms that encased her body currently. Didn't go to a gym? Pft, biggest lie of the century.

Austin started moving their hands, hitting the sticks on the drums, creating a different sound from each spot. Ally erupted in giggles as they created a song of sorts, one where no note mingled with the next gracefully and where there was never a true end. He continued this, created the weirdest string of notes as he could, enjoying the giggles that came from Ally, his own laughter mixing in.

At one point Ally had thrown her head back in laughter, resting it against Austin's chest. He looked down at her smiling and she could only do the same in response. In a quick movement, she leaned over and placed a soft kiss to his cheek before looking down at the drums, smiling with a deep red tinting her cheeks. The blond boy nearly cheered.

"Hey Ally?" he said, a few seconds after they resumed drumming, playing a soft beat.

"Hm?" she responded, looking up at him a second after. He looked at her and God, he should be sent to heaven for having restrained himself for this long. With his hands still covering hers and his arms still wrapped around her, he moved closer, enveloping her lips with his own.

Oh yeah, this was definitely worth the wait.

"Austin?" Ally asked, a few moments later, breaking their kiss.

"Sup?" he mumbled against her lips.

"Thank you." He grinned at her soft giggle. "This is much better than gaveling." Not a second passed before he pressed his lips to hers once more. Yes, much better, he agreed.

**A/N: **Okay, so the ending isn't exactly what I imagined but Twitter feels. Sorry! You should leave a review or something because I like talking and comments are cool and I love criticism and hey, let's be best friends! Okay, I'm sorry, bye. :)


End file.
